


Overworked and About To Explode

by Mrs_Understood



Category: Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Bombs, Everyone Needs A Hug, Gen, Hurt Tony Stark, No Smut, Overworked Tony Stark, Precious Peter Parker, Protective Steve Rogers, Protectiveness, Tony Angst, Tony Stark Needs a Hug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-15
Updated: 2020-03-15
Packaged: 2021-02-28 18:55:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,939
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23162089
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mrs_Understood/pseuds/Mrs_Understood
Summary: Tony is stressed, overworked, and sleep-deprived. What does he do to keep himself from falling asleep with too much left to do? Build himself into a bomb, naturally.Apparently his teammates have something to say about that.
Comments: 15
Kudos: 100





	Overworked and About To Explode

“Sir, you are getting a call from Nick Fury marked as urgent.” 

“Great. Pick up.” He said. Tony had been up for almost 51 hours already and gotten almost as many items added to his to-do list. 

“Stark.” Fury said. 

“Hey, Popeye!” Tony yelled, spinning in his chair. “What can I do for you?” 

“That is no way to treat a superior Stark.” Fury said. Tony could practically hear the disdain in his voice. Fun. 

“You’re right. Would you like to stand up and do a jig next time you call, because that can be arranged.” Tony said. 

“Why did a child, a literal child, have the ability to hack into our systems yesterday?” Fury asked. 

“Hard work and determination can take you far in life?” 

“ _ Your _ firewall was faulty. This child was able to infiltrate SHIELD and get access to dozens of agents' personal information. Thankfully all the kids did was change their Bios and names, most of which were from old movies, but do you understand how dangerous that could have been?” 

“Ya huh. Do you know the kid's name?” 

“It was Peter something, not important right now, we need to-” 

“Peter Parker?” Tony interrupted, not at all put off by Fury's sigh. 

“Maybe, Tony-” 

“Because if it was Peter Parker, which it sounds like it is, I’m sorry, but no amount of updating is gonna keep that kid out. He’s nearly as smart as me  _ now _ . Besides, you made it very clear I was not to make the firewall too hard for anyone else to be able to open it.” 

“You can’t just allow a kid into the servers, Tony. He isn’t authorized.” 

“You do know he is spiderman, right? Like, we’re clear on that fact?” Tony asked. 

“Fix it, Tony. I’m not asking again.” Fury's voice left his workshop with a decided click. 

“Hey Fri, do you know what number that is on my to-do list?” Tony asked. 

“Sorting by priority, that would be number 14 on your thirty-six item long list.” 

“And that’s for this week?” Tony asked. “I thought I had more than that.” 

“That is for today, sir. Would you like to see the list for this week?” Friday asked. 

“Nah, it’ll just depress me. What's your top priority?” 

“Updating the security for Captain-” 

“Tony!” A voice yelled, accompanied by a pounding on the glass wall. Great. 

“What do you need?” Tony called, spinning around to see Steve, still knocking on the glass. 

“Let me in,” Steve said. Tony obliged, allowing the door to swing open. “You weren't at the movie night tonight?” 

“Um, because I thought it was in four hours.” He lied. He’d known exactly when it was happening, seeing as Friday had tried to literally force him out of his lab several times, he’d just had to make the choice to miss it because if he hadn’t there was no way he’d have finished the Stark phone update. 

“You need to keep a better track of time Tony. You weren't at dinner either.” Steve pointed out. 

“Oh really, I didn’t notice.” 

“This isn’t a joke Tony,” Steve said. “If you’re a part of the team you need to participate in team bonding like the rest of us.” 

“I don’t know if you’ve noticed, I’m a little busy. I can’t afford to take time off right now. Time is money.” 

“Meaning you have too much of it?” Steve asked. Okay, so he’d walked right into that one. 

“Meaning it is highly important, now will you please-” 

“Yeah, here’s the thing, we kinda have an emergency upstairs,” Steve said. Okay, concerning. 

“What kind of emergency?” Tony asked. 

“Well I don’t really know, but my legal name is now All-American Cherry-Pie, so…” Steve said. Tony snorted at the name. 

“I’m so proud.” He said, getting a questioning look from Steve. “Spider kid did it. I’ll have him change it back soon though.” 

“Tony. Fury’s official name, what we need to legally address him as George-Washington Poo-poo-head.” 

“I’m less proud of that one?” Tony said. “Look, I’ll give him a call, but if I upgrade the firewall enough to keep him out no one will be able to get in. He’s almost as smart as I was when I was his age and I was at MIT.” 

“Peter’s not in college?” Steve asked. Tony froze. 

“Nope, definitely in college. Alright well, I have- Friday, How many things do I have on my list for today?” 

“37. 14 of those being high ticket items,” Friday informed. 

“Wai- '' Steve started. Tony pushed hard on his shoulders, forcing him on the other side of the glass wall and locking the door. 

“Alright. Friday, call the spiderling,” 

“On it boss.” 

0o0o0o

“Mr. Rogers, I regret to wake you up, but it is in my programing to alert the nearest avenger if Antony's life is being put in danger,'' Friday said, accompanied by the suddenly blinding lights. Blinking, Steve looked at the clock next to him. 

“It’s four in the morning, shouldn’t he be asleep?” He asked, sitting up. 

“I am afraid that is why I have woken you up. Boss has currently gone 71 hours without sleeping, and if he continues on this trajectory, he will likely put his own life in danger.” 

“Da sounds about' right,” Bucky mumbled. “Hey, I wa’ closer than Steve, why didn’ you wake me up?” 

“Well sir, you aren't a morning person,” Friday said. 

“So what do you want me to do? Go make him sleep? Can’t you do that?” Steve asked, not getting out of bed. 

“Well normally I could, but I have been strictly prohibited from interfering while there is anything left on his to-do list, and it would appear that he has rigged a contraption to-”

“Alright, alright! On my way!” Steve said, jumping out of bed. He swore he heard Friday laugh. Add that to the list of disturbing things to happen today already. “Uh, I forgot where his lab is.” 

“Just follow the blinking lights sir,” Friday said. 

“Ugh. I forgot we showed you stranger things.” Steve said. “Hey, wait. You called me Mr. Rogers, are our names back to normal?” 

“Yes sir, the boss called Spiderman at one this morning to get that sorted out,” Friday said. 

“Great,” Steve said. He appeared directly in front of the lab, only to be faced with another problem. “Uh, what’s the pin?” 

“I am only allowed to give you the emergency override code,” Friday said. “Which only activates during emergencies, and no other time. The code is 8102004.” 

“That seems like an important number,” Steve said. “Do you know why Tony chose it?” 

“He did not share with me the reason for choosing that code, however, Peter Parker's birthday happens to be August tenth, 2004.” 

“Cute. Where is he?” Steve asked. Friday blinked a light over a desk. It took Steve several minutes to realize that Tony was sitting at the desk, as he was so far slumped over Steve could barely see him. There were literal piles of paper accumulating around him, reaching almost past his head if he sat up, and several empty coffee cups. 

“Tony? Is everything okay?” Steve asked. Tony turned to look at him and Steve’s eyebrows shot up at the genius's appearance. He seemed completely discombobulated. His hair was sticking straight up, where there were bags under his eyes, and his shirt had a couple of burn holes in it. 

“Great, why?” Tony asked. Steve was surprised to hear he sounded completely normal. 

“Well… because Friday just told me you were going to die if I didn’t intervene.” Steve said, looking around for something life-threatening. 

“Oh, the wire. Yeah, that triggered some system I don’t remember putting in. It won’t kill me, because as soon as I finish it deactivates. It’s just some encouragement to keep working.” 

“Friday?” Steve asked. Addressing her still felt weird. 

“Boss has made a trip-wire bomb designed to go off if he is to sleep or attempt to leave the area before he has finished everything on his to-do list.” Friday informed. “It would not damage the rest of the house, based on the new insulation he added to the lab to contain explosions, but anyone in the area would have an incredibly low chance of survival.” 

“ _ Tony _ ,” Steve said. 

“Yep?” 

“That's… no. No, you can’t… unwire that thing.” Steve said. 

“I’d love to, but I have work to do. Anyway, the wire has a fail-safe. If you try to de-activate it just blows up anyway.” Tony said. “The best thing you can do is let me work.” 

“And this is a literal wire?” Steve asked. 

“Obviously not. It’s an energy-” 

“Okay, I get it. Well, how many more things are on the list?” 

“Not many-” Tony started. 

“Boss has 89 tasks set for today,” Friday said. “19 of which are top priority. If he does not complete all of them today he will be removed from the team.” 

“ _ What _ ? Says who?” Steve asked, indigent. 

“Says Fury. I’m still legally a consultant. The position on the team is more of an honorary thing.” Tony said with a wave of his hand. “Now will you let me work? I need to design a new phone.” 

“Why is he still just a consultant?” Steve asked the ceiling.

“According to the equal labor laws passed in 2012, it is illegal to require a member of a group of superheroes to work more than 20 hours a week.” Friday informed. DUMM-Y nodded at his side. 

“And how many are you working Tony?” He asked, sighing. 

“Boss is currently working an average of 97 hours a week, plus avengers meetings. This does not include public appearances.” Friday said. 

“Shit. Tony, this is ridiculous, a human can’t work this much, let alone one so…” 

“If you say small I’m having DUMM-Y douse you with gasoline,” Tony said. 

“...Fun-sized.” 

“I hate you.” 

“Alright. You just try to not die, I’ll be back soon.” Steve said, sprinting up the stairs. He had a half-formed plan that probably wouldn’t work, but he was gonna try it anyway and hope for the best.

0o0o0o

One hour and a lot of complaining later, he had gotten all of the avengers, save for Thor and Loki, who were in Asgard, to congregate in the living room. 

“Why am I not asleep?” Bucky asked. 

“Okay, Friday, can you explain?” He asked the ceiling. 

“Of course. Antony Stark is currently not a legal member of the Avenger team, due to the workload that is being required of him. The fair labor laws passed in 2012 prohibited SHIELD or any other organization from requiring more than twenty hours of non-superhero related activity at a time. However, Fury is requiring an average of 97 hours of work from Tony, not including the work from Stark Industries and the Avengers. To ensure everything was finished on time, Tony has built himself inside of a bomb.” 

“He  _ what _ ?” Peter asked. 

“So that's the problem. He will literally die if he stops working, so we’re gonna go talk to Fury. Who’s last name is no longer ‘poo-poo-head’.” Steve said, looking at Peter. Peter just grinned. 

“How are we supposed to change Fury’s mind?” Clint asked. “One time I asked for a day off and he pretended to forget my name.” 

“We’re gonna threaten to resign,” Steve said, holding his breath to watch his teammates' reactions. 

“Okay,” Bucky said. Clint and Sam nodded. 

“Wait, really?” He asked. 

“Well if Stark blows up, I’ll need to do my own taxes,” Bucky said.

“I wanna help!” Peter said, sitting up. 

“May I suggest murder?” Natasha asked. 

“No.” He replied. She pouted for a moment before responding. 

“Fine.” 

“Bruce, you in?” He asked. Bruce just glared at him. 

“If I wake up because of Tony one more time I’m gonna Hulk out,” Bruce said. “Unfortunately the Hulk ‘bonded’ with Tony so I don’t have a choice.” 

“Yay!” Peter said. Natasha held onto the teen's arm to keep him from jumping. 

“Too early.” She replied. 

“It’s never too early to be enthusiastic!” Peter replied. 

“Ugh,” Bruce said. “I have one condition, I want a bag over Peter's head.” 

“No. Alright, let's go,” Steve said. 

“Where are we going anyway? Because I’m gonna go out on a limb and say that Fury won’t be in a conference room.” Sam asked, stretching. 

“We’re going to his house,” Steve said. 

“Great. That’s not creepy at all.” clint said. 

“I’m not putting on a shirt,” Bucky said. Steve laughed. 

“No one expected you to.” Sam sighed. 

They were out the door three minutes later, and it only took that long because Natasha insisted they let her put on real people clothes. And by insisting, she actually just told them that they would let her and then went to change. Now, who was in black jeans and a gray tee, with her hair in a perfect dancers bun and a bit of makeup. Bucky remained shirtless as they piled into the Highlander they’d gotten to transport all of them on missions. 

“So do you know where Fury’s house is or…?” Sam asked. 

“Of course. He lives awfully close to us.” Steve said. 

“Almost like he doesn't trust us or something,” Bucky said. “I mean-  _ holy shit Peter what are you doing _ ?” 

Peter looked at them from the roof of the car, not at all concerned. “There was more space up here.” 

“I thought that was your  _ suit _ . You can just  _ do that _ ?” Bucky said. Peter nodded, making his hair fall in Bruce’s face. He just sighed. 

“Yeah. I can also regrow limbs.” Peter said. “That's been pretty useful.” 

“Back up,” Natasha said. “How do you know that?” 

“Don’t worry, I wasn’t fighting any bad guys when it happened. Yeah, most spiders like molt or something, but I don’t, so my whole arm just regrew overnight.” 

“What did you tell the doctors?” Sam asked. 

“Psh. I don’t have health insurance.” Peter said. 

“Alright, we’re coming back to this letter. For now, we’re here.” 

0o0o0o

“Fury,” Steve said, standing over Nick Fury’s bed. The house had had an incredibly complex security system, with several keypad type things that he’d taken one look at and almost turned around. Luckily between Peter and Bruce, they had gotten through in a few minutes. 

“The hell are you doing in my home?” Fury asked, sitting up. “I swear, I’m gonna make Stark update the security here.” 

“No, that's the opposite of what to do right now,” Bucky said. 

“What are you talking about?” Fury asked, sitting up.

“We know about Tony not being a team member, and we know why,” Steve said, shooting Bucky a look. “You are aware that the amount of work you have him doing is effectively illegal, right?” 

“Listen, Stark is a complicated man, but one of the few good things about him is that he gets done what you need him to. For example, six hours ago Bucky’s legal name was Aragorn.” Fury said. Peter snickered behind them.

“He built himself into a  _ bomb _ to force him to work while so sleep deprived he can’t see straight because you told him to. And even if he didn’t do the work for you he is doing more than the rest of us with Stark industries.” Steve said adamantly. 

“Sounds like a very committed worker.” Fury said. Steve opened his mouth when a crash of thunder startled them. Moments later, Thor was standing on the balcony outside of the bedroom.

“What’s he saying?” Sam asked. 

“I heard something protesting.” Clint supplied. Bruce walked over to open the window. 

“I heard that we were protesting!” Thor yelled, making them wince. “How may I add the man of iron?” 

“We’re gonna quit if Fury doesn't redirect most of his tasks to freer agents and clear his to-do list for the next month,” Steve said, narrowing his eyes at Fury. 

“Alright.” The one-eyed man said. “Go ahead and quit.” 

He was going to retort, maybe give a resignation speech before trying to figure out how he was planning on getting Tony out, but something lighting fast (no pun intended) flew past his head. Next thing he knew, Fury was stuck to the wall with Peter's webbing, and Natasha was at his throat. 

“You sir are in a room with eight of the most highly trained and advanced agents in the entire world, and are about to willingly condemn her friend to death, are you sure you don’t want to think your actions over.” She said, her face not half an inch away from Furys. The man gave a long-suffering sigh, before nodding. 

“Fine. Hand me my I’ll call him, alright?” He said. They erupted into cheers, not worried about waking anyone else up, as Bruce handed over the phone. “One condition though, next time I see you Bucky, you need to have a shirt on.” 

“Trust me, he will!” Clint promised. 

0o0o0o

“Schedule cleared. Bomb deactivated.” Friday said, startling Tony out of his feverish focus. 

“What? I thought I had a couple dozen more to go.” Tony muttered. 

“It seems your friends spoke with Fury sir. I took the liberty of deleting every non-high stacks item. They will be redownloaded when you are in full health.” Friday said. “I have disabled the ability for you to recreate the bomb.” 

“I might need it again Fri,” Tony said, resting his head in his hands. 

“Unlikely sir. Steve would like me to inform you that if you aren't asleep when he comes back he will personally ‘kick your ass all the way to Asgard.’” 

“They really cleared the whole schedule?” He asked. 

“Everything, sir.” 


End file.
